A user environment, such as a residence or an office building for example, may be configured with various types of load control systems. A lighting control system may be used to control the lighting loads in the user environment. A motorized window treatment control system may be used to control the natural light provided to the user environment. A heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system may be used to control the temperature in the user environment.
Each load control system may include various control devices, including control-source devices and control-target devices. The control-target devices may receive digital messages from one or more of the control-source devices. The digital messages may include load control messages for controlling an electrical load. The control-target devices may be capable of directly controlling the electrical load. The control-source devices may be capable of indirectly controlling the electrical load via the control-target device. Examples of control-target devices may include lighting control devices (e.g., a dimmer switch, an electronic switch, a ballast, or a light-emitting diode (LED) driver), a motorized window treatment, a temperature control device (e.g., a thermostat), a plug-in load control device, and/or the like. Examples of control-source devices may include remote control devices, occupancy sensors, daylight sensors, temperature sensors, shadow sensors, and/or the like. To enable a control-target device to recognize instructions received from a control-source device, the control-target device and the control-source device may be associated with one another, such that the control-target device may recognize the digital messages received from the control-source device.
FIG. 1A depicts a prior art user environment in which control-source devices and control-target devices may be installed. As shown in FIG. 1, a user environment may include load control environments, e.g., rooms 102, 104, and 106. Each of the rooms 102, 104, and 106 may include control-target devices that may be capable of directly controlling an electrical load. For example, rooms 102, 104, and 106 may include lighting control devices 112, 130, and 136. The lighting control devices 112, 130, and 136 may be ballasts, LED drivers, dimmer switches, and/or the like. Lighting control devices 112, 130, and 136 may be capable of directly controlling an amount of power provided to lighting loads 114, 132, and 138, respectively. Room 102 may include additional control-target devices, such as a motorized window treatment 116 for directly controlling the covering material 118 (e.g., via an electrical motor), a plug-in load control device 126 for directly controlling a floor lamp 128, a desk lamp, or other electrical load that may be plugged into the plug-in load control device 126, and a temperature control device 124 (e.g., thermostat) for directly controlling an HVAC system.
Rooms 102, 104, and 106 may include control-source devices capable of indirectly controlling an electrical load by transmitting digital messages, such as load control messages, to a control-target device. The control-source devices in rooms 102, 104, and 106 may include remote control devices 122, 134, and 140 that may send digital messages to the lighting control devices 112, 130, and 136, respectively. The lighting control devices 112, 130, and 136 may control an amount of power provided to the lighting loads 114, 132, and 138, respectively, based on the digital messages received from the remote control devices 122, 134, and 140. Room 102 may include additional control-source devices, such as an occupancy sensor 110, a daylight sensor 108, and a shadow sensor 120. The occupancy sensor 110 may send digital messages to a control-target device based on an occupancy or vacancy condition (e.g., movement or lack of movement) that is sensed within its observable area. The daylight sensor 108 may send digital messages to a control-target device based on the detection of an amount of light within its observable area. The shadow sensor 120 may send digital messages to a control-target device based on a measured level of light received from outside of the room 102. For example, the shadow sensor 120 may detect when direct sunlight is directly shining into the shadow sensor 120, is reflected onto the shadow sensor 120, or is blocked by external means, such as clouds or a building, and may send a message indicating the measured light level.
When a user 142 attempts to use any of the control devices in the load control system shown in FIG. 1A, the control devices may operate improperly or inefficiently. The improper or inefficient operation of the control devices may be due to an improper system configuration. The load control system may be configured such that the control devices are not optimally located within the load control system to properly receive digital messages from other control devices. Additionally, communications between control devices may be improperly received, or even lost, due to interference within the load control system. As shown in FIG. 1A, multiple control devices may be communicating digital messages within the same wireless space. Interference within the wireless space may result in lost digital messages and a lower level of performance within the load control system.
Current system configuration devices fail to provide a convenient way to gather information for proper system configuration. FIG. 1B depicts a prior art system for gathering information and configuring the control devices in a load control system based on the information gathered. As shown in FIG. 1B, a user 144 may determine that a control device within the wireless communication system is operating improperly or inefficiently. The user 144 may be a contractor or other person experienced in configuring control devices within the load control system. The user 144 may use a wireless communication sniffing module 148 to read wireless communications within the load control system. The wireless communication sniffing module 148 may provide wireless communication information to the user 144 via a laptop 146.
As shown in FIG. 1B, the wireless communication sniffing module 142 may be able to read communications within the wireless range 148. The wireless communication sniffing module 142 may, however, miss some digital messages due to its proximity to some control devices. As some control devices, such as the occupancy sensor 110, the lighting control device 112, the lighting control device 130, remote control 134, and/or remote control 140, may transmit and/or receive digital messages outside of the wireless range 148, the lighting control device 130 may be unable to read these messages.
Additionally, for the digital messages that can be read by the wireless communication sniffing module, the information that is read may be provided in a format that may be unable to be understood by the user 144. FIG. 2 is a diagram that illustrates an example of a graphical user interface (GUI) 202 that may be provided to the user 144 on the laptop 146 to indicate the digital messages 204 that may be read by the wireless communication sniffing module 142. The messages 204 may include an identifier of a source device from which the digital message was sent, an identifier of a target device to which the digital message was sent, a message identifier, and/or the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the GUI 202 may provide the digital messages 204 in a constant stream of bits that may be difficult or unable to be understood by the user 144. As such, the user 144 may have to take the information gathered by the wireless communication sniffing module 148 to another destination to have the digital messages parsed to properly troubleshoot the problems with the wireless communications. The user 144 may then re-visit the load control environment shown in FIG. 1B to configure control devices therein.